Instructions

Step 1
Mix the agar according to the manufacturer's instructions. Agar is a bit like Jell-o and the
ingredients will need to be heated to precise temperatures. Make certain that you have a clean cooking
thermometer handy.
Step2
Open a petri dish and pour just enough agar into the dish to cover the bottom completely. Put the
lid back on immediately and set the dish aside until the agar firms. Fill each dish the same way, never
leaving the top of the dish off any longer than absolutely necessary. Once the agar hardens you may store
the dishes in the refrigerator upside down to avoid the possibility of any airborne bacteria getting into the
dishes.
Step 3
Remove the petri dishes from the refrigerator only when you are ready to use them. Open your
sterile cotton swab package and rub the cotton swab on a surface you wish to test for bacteria, such as a
countertop. Open a petri dish and rub your swab gently across the surface of the agar in an "S" pattern.
Close the lid on the petri dish.
Step 4
Set the dish in a warm dark cupboard for three to four days.
Step 5
Remove the dish from the cupboard. There is no need to open the dish. Observe the bacteria
colonies through the top of the dish. Record their color, shape and anything else distinguishing. Look in a
bacteria book or on the Internet for illustrations that match the bacteria you have cultured.
Step 6
Destroy your cultured bacteria once you have identified it. Pour 1 tbsp. of bleach into the petri
dish and then seal the dish closed with packing tape, put the dish in a baggie, seal it and throw away.

Parr, L. 2010 (http://www.ehow.com/how_4500623_culture-bacteria.html) How to Culture Bacteria

Instructions
Time Required: 5 minutes
1. While wearing gloves, sterilize an inoculating loop by placing it at an angle
over a flame. The loop should turn orange before you remove it from the
flame. A sterile toothpick may be substituted for the inoculating loop.
Do not place toothpicks over a flame.
2. Remove the lid from a culture plate containing the desired microorganism.
3. Cool the inoculating loop by stabbing it into the agar in a spot that does not
contain a bacterial colony.
4. Pick a colony and scrape off a little of the bacteria using the loop. Be sure to
close the lid.
5. Using a new agar plate, lift the lid just enough to insert the loop.
6. Streak the loop containing the bacteria at the top end of the agar plate
moving in a zig-zag horizontal pattern until 1/3 of the plate is covered.
7. Sterilize the loop again in the flame and cool it at the edge of the agar away
from the bacteria in the plate that you just streaked.
8. Rotate the plate about 60 degrees and spread the bacteria from the end of
the first streak into a second area using the same motion in step 6.
9. Sterilize the loop again using the procedure in step 7.
10.Rotate the plate about 60 degrees and spread the bacteria from the end of
the second streak into a new area in the same pattern.
11.Sterilize the loop again.
12.Replace the lid and invert the plate. Incubate the plate overnight at 37
degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
13. You should see bacterial cells growing in streaks and in isolated areas.
Tips:
1. When sterilizing the inoculating loop, make sure that the entire loop turns
orange before using on the agar plates.
2. When streaking the agar with the loop, be sure to keep the loop horizontal
and only streak the surface of the agar.

3. If using sterile toothpicks, use a new toothpick when performing each new
streak. Throw all used toothpicks away.
What You Need
1. Culture plate with microorganisms
2. Inoculating loop or sterile toothpicks
3. Agar plates
4. Bunsen burner or another flame producing instrument
5. Clean Gloves
6. Lab gown
7. Facemask
8. Sterile cotton swabs

Bailey, R. How to Streak a Bacterial Culture.

http://biology.about.com/od/biologylabhowtos/ht/streak-a-bacterialculture.htm